hackOBLIVION
by Tesserakt
Summary: After awakening Aura and being able to log out, Tsukasa logs back in a month later, with unexpected and tragic results. Some Tsukasa Subaru romance (Tsukasa IS a girl). ONLY takes into account the .hack SIGN canon, not the games or anything else. COMPLETE
1. Imprisonment

.hackOBLIVION

'Here we stand in ravishing rain,

joy is like pain,

it feels like a miracle.

You can't turn back, you're in chains,

never again

return from a cynical world.'

-Cynical World, Yuki Kajiura

**I**

Tsukasa picked up the bulky headset, the electronic gadget that would let her access The World once more, that would let her see Subaru once more. Yet she hesitated. It had been barely a month ago when The World had been her only world, as she had been trapped inside the game by the malignant entity named Morgana, unable to log out, her memories twisted and fragmented. An irrational fear of being trapped again gnawed at the back of her mind, and questions that could only be described as paranoid raced through her mind. The promise she had made to Subaru was victorious against her fears, though, and she slowly put the gadget in front of her eyes, and logged on, once again, into The World that had once been the dreamscape for her nightmare.

In a moment she stood beside the spinning blue circle that had let her into this world, a familiar landscape of grass around her, a familiar sky above, and a familiar sea of clouds below, as the grass ended in an abrupt precipice. It almost seemed more familiar than the comparatively grey and boring world of her real life. She realized why she hadn't wanted to go back to that ridiculous, angry, boring world. The only thing in the real world worth the effort was Subaru, so the irony in having to go virtual to see her was absolute.

Tsukasa banished such grim thoughts from her mind and smiled, reminding herself the reason she had come here: the reunion with her friends. She set out to the place of meeting, the grass brushing against her legs. She then also realized she didn't feel the grass, or the air on her face. She felt numb and strange; everything had been so vivid before, now this felt like a parody of a dream, a dream that would never come true. She realized she wouldn't be able to feel Subaru, to feel her warmth when she touched her. Yet something was better than nothing. She stepped forward onto the grass she didn't feel and, suddenly, unbearable pain shot through her, like someone had stuck red hot needles into her head. Her vision went cloudy and she felt dizzy. She fell onto the grass and, just before losing consciousness, she felt a sharp pain on her right cheek. A blade of grass had cut her.

**II**

Subaru and Mimiru sat on the edge of a grassy precipice. Subaru's elegant face was contorted into an expression of concern, Mimiru's, however, showed annoyance and impatience.

"He's _always_ late", said Mimiru, "he so has _no_ consideration for other people. We've been waiting here for over two hours and he doesn't even care"

Subaru turned towards her friend with a frown. They had been waiting here for a long time, and she could understand Mimiru's irritation, but that still was no reason to badmouth Tsukasa.

"Tsukasa only used to be late because she didn't have a clock like we do. And Tsukasa is _she_." Subaru said, firmly. "I'm sure something must have… happened to her, and she can't come"

Mimiru huffed. "Whatever. I'm certainly not waiting any longer. Just send me a message when he comes along"

With that she got up and walked off, hoisting her sword behind her head and grumbling about Tsukasa under her breath. Subaru looked down into the sea of white clouds, wishing with all her heart that Mimiru's supposition were right and not hers. If something had happened to Tsukasa, she didn't know what she'd do.

"Subaru?" an older, male voice asked from behind her. She turned around to face Bear. He looked tired, beaten, his face grim. The big and muscular barbarian character now seemed weak and defeated. She knew why he was here and could feel the tears threatening to rise to her eyes as she asked:

"What happened to Tsukasa?"

Bear looked down and took a deep breath. When he spoke his voice was steady and clear, but she could see that the old man was distressed. This was bad, really bad.

"Something happened when she logged in to The World…" he paused a moment, picking up the courage to tell her, "She had a stroke. There was extensive damage to her brain, it seems… she's… she's brain dead, Subaru, machines keep her alive for now, but they won't last forever… she… it's almost impossible for her to recover"

Tears had been running down Subaru's face for some time already, but now she buried her face in her hands and sobbed weakly. Her voice coming out weak and strangled when she said:

"No… it can't... it can't be true"

**III**

A man in a perfectly clean, crisp suit sat in front of a computer in his office. This office was surprisingly stark and boring, without a spark of humanity. Grey walls, grey floor, grey roof, grey files, grey plastic furniture. Nothing could be seen in the office except grey and the black and white of printed documents. The man worked on and on at his computer, typing in an endless series of reports, notes and projects. It was difficult to imagine this man doing anything else. Then, a note of discord: another man in a perfectly clean, crisp suit rushed into the office with a worried face. The face of one who has been selected to carry the blame of many. His voice was nervous and rushed. It seemed very out of place compared to his crisp, perfect suit.

"Sir, subject epsilon-delta-omega has escaped!"

The working person finished writing the sentence he had been interrupted in, calmly. He then slowly turned around and looked at the nervous man. His voice was calm, steady and rational, of course. It seemed impossible that the working person would have any other sort of voice.

"Order his immediate recapture. Subject epsilon-delta-omega is vital for our project."

The nervous man nodded, with the half-hopeful face of one who doesn't know if he has escaped the blame or just delayed it for a while.

"Yes, sir" he said, and rushed back out of the room.

**IV**

Tsukasa slowly stood up. He wasn't very sure what had happened, but he must've tripped over a rock while he was thinking about other things. He reprimanded himself mentally for being so distracted and clumsy, even inside a game, and set off towards the place where he was supposed to meet Subaru.

When he saw Subaru with her head between her hands, turquoise strands of hair hanging down, hiding her face from sight, Tsukasa ran towards her. She didn't even look up when he approached and he could now hear her crying. He knelt down beside her, put a hand on her shoulder, gently, and softly asked:

"What's the matter, Subaru?"

She looked round at him and her eyes widened in surprise. She slowly brought her hand up to touch his cheek, as if she wanted to see if he was real, and was afraid that he wasn't. He could feel the wetness of her tears on the hand as it touched him; he thought there was something strange about this, but couldn't recall what exactly it was.

"Tsukasa" she said, almost inaudibly, as if still not absolutely believing it.

Tsukasa looked at Subaru, puzzled. He couldn't understand why she was acting this way, they had agreed to meet here, after all.

"Of course it's me, Subaru," he said, "who did you expect?"

"But… how…" she began, and then a dark suspicion began to dawn on her. _Something happened when he logged into The World_, Bear had said, _the machines are keeping him alive_. She fervently hoped she was wrong, that Bear had been wrong, somehow, or that everything had just been a nightmare. Yet she had to know.

"Tsukasa… log out" she asked.

The young Wavemaster looked at her with increasing puzzlement. He didn't know what could've happened for Subaru to be acting so strangely now. Why would she want him to leave?

"But Subaru, why? I don't understand," he asked in return.

"Just… try and log out, Tsukasa… and then log back in… please"

Tsukasa thought it was strange. After all, Subaru was the one that had always told him not to be afraid of not being able to log back out. She had always said it was an irrational fear and that it couldn't happen again. Why this now? Nevertheless, he decided to try. After all, relogging was no trouble, and he could understand how she could maybe be worried about it. He sighed, stood up, and lifted his staff to the sky activating the command to log out.

He waited.

Nothing happened, absolutely nothing.

He felt numb as dark fear gripped him, and it slowly dawned on him. He had felt Subaru's tears and he was feeling the grass below his feet. Like the sensation of being in a dream and slowly realizing it's become a nightmare you cannot wake up from all the small things came to him: the feeling of the cold air on his face, the smell of Subaru's perfume, the coldness of the staff between his fingers.

He felt the staff drop from his numb fingers and clatter to the floor, heard Subaru gasp and start to cry again, felt his mind awakening just to find itself inside a nightmare.

**V**

Mimiru swung her sword at the monster's head in one last strike. When the blow connected the image of the beast turned grey and slowly faded away, leaving only Mimiru.

"Ah, that feels better" she said aloud.

Beating up monsters was the best method of relieving frustration, and saying she was _frustrated_ at Tsukasa was a great understatement. She was absolutely furious. She was really looking forward to talking to Tsukasa again. At least Subaru had been able to talk to Tsukasa almost every week on the phone, but since they'd both gone to Shimokita together a month ago Mimiru hadn't heard a word from her strange friend. She wasn't really angry because of that, though. Anger was just her own particular way of pushing worse ideas out of her head. _Something's__ happened to her_, Subaru had said. Mimiru didn't want to believe that. She cared about Tsukasa more than she'd ever admit to anyone.

She turned around to start walking back out of the dungeon and stopped. She was now facing what looked like a Wavemaster, but of a style she had never seen before. Raven black hair fell disorderedly around a pale face. A white cheek was marked with three strange symbols tattooed in red, the first one looked like a Latin "E", the second was a small triangle, and the third seemed to be like an "O" cut off at the bottom. Blue-grey eyes looked at her dreamily, as if he wasn't fully concentrated in what he was seeing. He wore a white robe with multiple designs in a golden metal that fell to the floor around his feet. The Wavemaster's staff he was holding ended in four sharp prongs that cupped around a crimson sphere that floated just barely untouched by the spikes. He somehow reminded him of Tsukasa as she had first met him… maybe it was that lost expression. She decided to make conversation and find out more about this strange character.

"Hi there!" she said, "I didn't know I had company. You rarely see a Wavemaster working alone, you must be pretty…" she felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, "…tough"

Why had she said those words and _exactly_ those words? Maybe it was because she had been thinking of Tsukasa. Yes, that was the most logical explanation. It still felt weird. The Wavemaster just stood there, looking at her. It was all so familiar in a way. She almost expected him to take out a Sprite Ocarina and disappear. Yet he didn't do that. Instead, he spoke with a dazed voice that matched the look in his eyes.

"I… suppose so"

Mimiru was relieved. It had all been her imagination. This wasn't Tsukasa; he was just a normal player with a strange character, at most maybe a hacker. She could be so silly sometimes! She smiled at the stranger.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The Wavemaster hesitated and frowned slightly, as if trying to remember something that was just on the tip of his tongue. When he answered it was slowly and carefully, like someone who isn't very sure about a word.

"Edo"

"Edo, eh?" it was a strange name, but in The World you could get all sorts of weird names anyway, why was she being so paranoid? "What are you doing down here all alone?"

Edo looked at her strangely, as if he hadn't fully understood the question. The answer was short and slow, as if he was unsure of the language.

"I was… looking around"

He was really slow answering, but it didn't mean anything, he possibly didn't know Japanese all that well. People in The World sometimes came from all kinds of faraway countries. When everything weird that happened had a logical explanation, why did this guy still send shivers down her spine?

She was about to ask another question when a faint beep alerted her of incoming mail. It was Bear, telling her to go back to Dun Loireag urgently. Something about Tsukasa, it seemed. She smiled with the prospect of speaking with Tsukasa and glanced one last time at Edo. It was possibly nothing but… she inputted a small command into her terminal before waving to the strange Wavemaster and running off.

Edo looked at her go away with his strange, unfocused stare. She had already disappeared in the darkness when his lips moved to say:

"Goodbye"


	2. Disbelief

[Author's Notes: I am now posting chapters in groups of five, to make things easier for my readers. I still write and classify by small chapters, though, it's just my style. I hope you like the story so far. I promise I won't kill you if you give constructive criticism, even if I have to get a friend of mine to tie me to my chair. Also, Subaru wishes to apologize for being so hysterical, and promises she will be back to her more usual behavior after this moment of extreme stress. Thank you.]

**VI**

Tsukasa held a crying Subaru tight against him, feeling the dampness of her tears on his shoulder. Such bittersweet feeling, that of Subaru so close to him. He loved to feel her like that, but the very fact that he could feel her was making her cry onto his shoulder like her world had come down around her ears. He stroked her hair gently, the greenish strands flowing between his fingers. So soft, like silk.

"Cry all you want, Subaru… I'll be here" he whispered softly into her ear.

"But… you won't…" she sobbed, her voice muffled by his shoulder. He felt the warmth of her breath against him as she spoke. It was such a heavenly feeling, to hold her like this, to be here to comfort her. Yet… what if she was right? What if Bear was right? What if he… she was lying in a hospital, about to die? What if she would never hold Subaru like this in the real world?

He knew he needed time to think about this, even if he didn't find answers. Subaru also needed to rest, they had been like this for a long time, and it must already be deep into the night in the outside world.

"Subaru… you need to rest. Log out" he said.

She lifted her head from his shoulder and those precious hazel eyes, wet with tears, looked into his.

"But… what if tomorrow… you're already gone?"

Tsukasa tried to smile reassuringly at her, hiding his own doubts.

"I'll be here" he said, and felt a pang of guilt. He didn't know, and if he wasn't... he didn't even want to think about what Subaru would do.

Subaru blinked, two last tears running down her face, and looked at Tsukasa, her eyes pleading.

"Promise?" she asked in a small voice.

Tsukasa hugged her tight once more, trying to instill a sureness he didn't possess.

"I promise" he whispered, and released her.

**VII**

Subaru stood there, in the grasslands of Dun Loireag, as Mimiru and Bear approached. She looked absolutely exhausted, as if she hadn't slept at all that night. Bear wondered why she had logged into The World in such a state, and why she had called them both here.

"You should rest, Subaru" he said when they had approached her, "not be here in the World"

Subaru looked up at him and smiled slightly, as if amused by something.

"I can't sleep, and I prefer to at least be able to walk around and talk than to sit on my own on the outside," she said, "and I want to see Tsukasa again"

Bear and Mimiru looked at her with puzzlement and concern.

"Tsukasa?" said Mimiru slowly, "Subaru… he's… not here"

Subaru shook her head slowly.

"She's here," Subaru said, "she can't log out, and she can feel the World… again… but she's here"

Bear frowned slightly and looked at the small winged girl.

"Subaru, that's impossible," he said, sternly, "this isn't a coma like the last time, and, anyway, Morgana is destroyed, there's nothing to trap Tsukasa in the World anymore. You should really get some rest, Subaru"

"I should get some rest?" she answered, raising her voice at Bear, sadness, frustration and exhaustion spilling out, "_what_ are you saying? That I made it all up? I _imagined_ holding onto Tsukasa for hours here last night? I _dreamt _her?"

Mimiru put a hand on Subaru's shoulder, comfortingly, and was quickly swatted away.

"Subaru… calm down…" she said.

"Calm down? _Calm down?_" Subaru shouted, "Tsukasa is here and I'm going to go to him!"

With those words Subaru held up her Sprite Ocarina and disappeared among golden rings, leaving Mimiru and bear looking at each other in confusion.

"Well, maybe she's right," said Mimiru, after a while, "Tsukasa has been known to do very strange things"

Bear looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin slowly and frowning.

"Maybe," he said, slowly, "maybe…"

**VIII**

The man in the grey room slowly saved the document he was working on and displayed the mail on the screen. He read the message of one of his employees calmly, without moving a muscle except to scroll the message down. After he finished he clicked the reply button and typed in:

_The recapture of subject epsilon-delta-omega is of utmost importance for the current project and out ongoing plans. Work out how he is managing to stay hidden from our scanners, locate him and proceed to capture and reprogram. Under no circumstance make the existence of subject epsilon-delta-omega public, all operations regarding his retrieval must be veiled in utmost secrecy. We have been depending too much on the Crimson Knights, as this situation makes painfully obvious. We must either deploy more agents into The World or form another organization for its control, preferably both those options. The Tsukasa situation is already resolved, and we should remove any agents monitoring him and place them on the search for subject epsilon-delta-omega immediately. Silver Knight may be an appropriate leader for any organization we may set up; he seems inclined to follow orders, although we must be careful of how much information we reveal to him, as he seems to be in contact with Subaru, and we do not want any of our plans to leak to Helba. Finally, although it is lower priority, complete the purging of Net Slum and all other areas that the hacker could use as bases as soon as possible._

The man clicked the button to send the message and immediately resumed work on something else, without frowning, without smiling, without stopping.

**IX**

Tsukasa wandered in the baking heat of the desert, looking for something. He did not know what he was looking for, but hoped he would know when he found it. He thought it was something that would let him log out again but… did he really want to log out again? Did he really want to go back to a world where he couldn't touch Subaru, couldn't feel the mountain air on his face, just the breeze of the city? Did he really want to _go back to that ludicrous world?_ Morgana's words echoed in his mind, bringing back others with them: _live here peacefully… forever… _Aura and Maha… where were they? Did Maha really die defending him? Was she a player character or an AI? And Aura? What had become of Aura after she awoke? Then he realized it. He was looking for Aura. Aura would help him. He would either log out or… live here forever.

Then, suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Who are you?"

Tsukasa turned around and found himself face to face with a pale, black-haired Wavemaster clad in white and gold robes. Three odd red symbols decorated his cheek. He was definitely unlike any other character that Tsukasa had ever met. Why was this strange person asking him who he was? He didn't have time for this sort of thing, anyway. He took out his Sprite Ocarina and was about to port away when a sort of low-pitched buzzing entered his ears and the odd Wavemaster said:

"You feel… strange, different from other players"

Tsukasa stared at him. He felt different? Did this guy somehow know that Tsukasa couldn't log out? Was he some sort of hacker? No, he didn't think so, as far as he knew nobody had been able so far to tell that he was different. This was just some strange person pulling some sort of prank. Still… it was unnerving. He probably should tell Subaru about it. The strange character still looking at him as if expecting an answer, Tsukasa activated his Sprite Ocarina and soon disappeared in the middle of rising golden rings.

**X**

Mimiru walked along the dark corridor of the dungeon, deep in thought. She had decided to stick around and see if Subaru was right and Tsukasa was again trapped in The World. She had sent a message to Subaru asking her to call her if she found Tsukasa, but she wasn't sure if she would. Poor Subaru, she must be really affected by all this, Mimiru had never seen the calm and stern girl get angry like that, much less at Bear. Tsukasa must mean a lot to her. Tsukasa… that Wavemaster she had argued with so many times and yet cared for… the person she had waited for hours on end many times… the one they had managed to free from The World after so much effort… he was going to die. It was… hard to believe, in a way. She had seen Tsukasa die, once, in The World. His own Guardian, or something like it, had pierced his chest right through. Yet the next day he had been there, maybe with a bit of memories lost in the process, but not much worse. Maybe she half expected it to be like that. She was trying desperately not to think about it, that's why she had gone to a dungeon, fighting would keep her mind off things, yet no monsters seemed to want to help.

That's when she heard something like a low-pitched buzz, or static. On second thought, she almost seemed to _feel_ it. Before she could wonder about this, though, a demon with a giant sword flew out of a side corridor and into the wall to her side. The crash echoed throughout the dungeon before the monster turned grey and dissipated. Mimiru cautiously poked her head round the corner where it had flown out. A brief corridor opened up into a rather big room with a treasure chest at the end of it. However, her eyes were locked on the white and gold-robed Wavemaster backed up against the wall. His staff was lying on the ground and his right hand was clutching his left shoulder. His face was scrunched up into an expression of extreme pain, and a crimson substance was seeping through his fingers, slowly. He was bleeding, but that was impossible, no one bled in The World, and no one felt pain… no one except…

_A small Wavemaster is hugging his knees close to him on the floor of a dungeon while Mimiru and Bear fight. "Ow… this sucks" he says weakly, and tries to make himself even smaller, to hide from the blows of the monster._

…Tsukasa.

She approached Edo, for she was sure this was Edo, the strange character she had met before, and healed him. He looked up at her with relief and gratitude on his face.

"Thank you" he said, weakly.

Mimiru smiled at him. At least he didn't seem to run off as readily as Tsukasa. All the better for her, she wanted him to answer some questions.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Edo nodded slightly. "Yes"

He seemed to be talking much more fluidly than the last time she had met him. She wondered if he was really the same person.

"You're Edo, right?" she asked.

He nodded again. "Yes, we met before, did we not?" he answered in absolutely perfect Japanese. Now Mimiru was really puzzled.

"Yes," she said, "we did. My name is Mimiru"

He nodded once more. "Thank you for healing me. That… thing… caught me off guard"

"Oh, no problem" she paused a moment and then decided to say it. "Hey… don't you find it weird that you can… like… feel pain and stuff… in here?"

He looked at her, puzzled, as if he hadn't understood the question, but answered. "No, why would I? Doesn't everyone?"

Mimiru was taken aback, even Tsukasa had realized it was strange for him to feel The World, she didn't really know what to say.

"Uhm…" she started, "no, normally people can't feel anything inside the game"

Edo looked at her as if she had suddenly said the sky was down instead of up. "A game? What are you saying? This is the world, what else is there?"

Mimiru fumbled, she was certainly not expecting this… was he an AI? "Eh… the real world? The one you go into when you… log out?"

He frowned at her for a moment and then threw his head back and laughed. "That ludicrous dimension? You think _that_ is the world? Even a fool can see this place is much more real than that grey place"

Mimiru was left without anything to say. This person knew the real world, but he thought The World was reality instead…

Edo chuckled once more and smiled at her. "Well, well, what strange ideas you have. Goodbye… Mimiru"

With that he walked off, leaving Mimiru wondering if he was joking or he really was as convinced as he sounded. That apart from the fact he seemed to be able to sustain a fluid conversation now when the day before he had barely been able to pronounce a few words. She was definitely going to talk to bear and the rest about this.


	3. Reunion

[AN: I'm sorry for the really really short chapters in this update, but it just turned out this way. By the way, keep giving feedback, it's what keeps me writing]

**XI**

Subaru sat under a tree in Dun Loireag, a spot she knew very well. She had sat here many times with Tsukasa when he had been trapped… the _other_ time he had been trapped here. Now she was wondering if they would ever sit together anywhere again. She had sent a message to Tsukasa almost half an hour ago, asking him to meet her here, yet he hadn't appeared. What if something had happened to Tsukasa in the real world? No… Bear would have told her. He had to come; he had to. He _promised._

Golden rings appeared in the air, falling down to reveal a small, ivory-haired Wavemaster with a small, tired smile on his lips.

"I keep my promises"

**XII**

Edo walked among the forest of towering mushrooms, the colorful, vivid and real land of The World. How could anyone ever think that drab and grey city was the _real_ world? Yes, he had to eat and drink in the other world, but what did that mean? This was his World, his fairytale land, and the banal place they called Tokyo had nothing to do against it. Yet if he was right, if he really didn't mind, why did those girl's words echo again and again in his mind? Why did he feel, somehow, that he was wrong? Maybe he would return to Tokyo for some time, and try to find answers to those questions.

Then, something caught his eye in-between the mushrooms. Something small and purple had just floated between the giant fungi. He went towards where he had seen the flash of color, curiously looking about him. Before long he was deep into the forest, far away from any paths. He would see a flash of color and try to find it again, to no avail, then, when he was about to give up, he saw it briefly again. It seemed to be taunting him, keeping right out of sight, or maybe leading him somewhere. Then, suddenly, it darted out in front of him. Floating some four feet from the ground, there was a small purple and white cat-like creature, in grey shirt and trousers, and a pointed hat. Some memory long forgotten stirred inside him, and recognition showed in Edo's eyes.

"Maha?"

The cat-like creature took of its hat and flourished an exaggerated bow. It's mouth moved, but the words he heard directly in his mind.

_I see we meet again, __Edo__. I am glad you have kept out of trouble._

Again? Edo tried to remember any previous encounter with the being, but the all-too-familiar fog that covered his memory did not part to let him through. He wanted to ask Maha why he couldn't remember, but it looked back nervously, as if something was following it, and disappeared in thin air, leaving only Edo alone in the forest of mushrooms, even more confused than before.

**XIII**

"I have to find Aura," Tsukasa was saying, "she was the key the last time, and she could surely help now"

Subaru nodded, but looked concerned. "That means you'll be going to her domain… where we can't contact you"

Tsukasa nodded gravely. "I don't think I'll be able to return here every day if I am to find her, so… when we meet again it will be resolved, one way or the other."

Subaru leaned against his shoulder, yet not smiling like the first time they had sat like this here. She didn't look like the Subaru he had always known anymore, determination had been replaced by desperation, and hope by exhaustion. He became painfully aware of the fact that he could feel her, but the one truly in need of touch was she. The barrier between them was unsurpassable. They seemed to touch each other, but they were really separated by miles of distance, the distance between the real Subaru, in her wheelchair in front of her computer and the jumble of data that represented him in The World.

"You can stay a little longer, can't you?" she asked, softly.

Tsukasa nodded. He knew every second that passed drew him farther away from hope and closer to oblivion, but he would give anything to stay here with her, even a little while longer.

She smiled weakly and closed her eyes. They stayed like that for a long time, and Subaru fell asleep on his shoulder, as the blue sky above turned black and dotted with stars.

_You're__ looking at the stars. I look at the same stars. I like doing that, I think._

Tsukasa wiped a tear from his eyes before it had a chance to fall. He would find Aura. He would be all right. He would see Subaru again.

**XIV**

They all sat there, in the church where, long ago, Tsukasa used to like to be, the place where the Eye of the Twilight opened. It still seemed to be an incredibly sad and lonely area to Mimiru. She wished Bear had chosen a more cheerful meeting place.

She surveyed the other people around. Bear was grim and serious, like he had been ever since he received news of what had happened to Tsukasa. Subaru seemed to be better rested and more in control today, but still looked sad. Mimiru supposed she probably didn't have a very good face herself. Crim, standing behind Subaru, looked concerned. Mimiru didn't know whether it was concern at Tsukasa or at Subaru, possibly both. BT, surprisingly, looked much like Subaru. Her face was grave and worried, she hadn't said a word since she arrived, and she had been the first to come. Mimiru had never thought Tsukasa meant that much to BT but, of course, Mimiru hadn't really got on that well with the older woman.

"Well," Bear started, "it seems we are all here…"

They talked for a long time, about a lot of things. She and Bear apologized to Subaru for not believing her, and definite proof of Tsukasa's continued existence in The World was shown. BT proposed they contact Helba and ask her help, and they all agreed. They also seemed to agree, without her consent, that it would be she that would contact Sora. She was so not looking forward to that, even if it was to help Tsukasa. They were all also in agreement about Tsukasa needing to find the small girl called Aura, wherever she could be, but that they could do little to help him with that. Finally, Mimiru told them all about the strange Wavemaster called Edo, that believed The World to be the real world. Bear seemed to think he could have something to do with Tsukasa, so she gave out copies of the screenshot she had taken of him to the others, so they would recognize him. Bear seemed to recognize the strange symbols on Edo's face, but didn't say anything definite. Finally, Bear gave Subaru the address of the hospital where they were keeping Tsukasa. After that, they all left their own way, to do their own things, but at least it seemed they were all going to take steps to help Tsukasa.

_Stay alive a little longer, Tsukasa,_ _we are here to help you._

**XV**

_You have to find me, Tsukasa._

The small white girl pleaded silently at him, from somewhere far, far away.

_You are my only hope… our only hope._

"But how?" he asked her, "how do I find you?"

_Find yourself, Tsukasa, and you shall find me._

"What do you mean?" he asked, but she was not in front of her anymore. She was on the bed he had seen her floating above so many times, tied down by thorny purple vines. She wasn't white anymore, but opalescent, swirling colors traveling over her body. He knew this scene, he had seen it before. Yet, was this a memory or a premonition?

_"Don't listen to her, my dear Tsukasa,"_ said the voice in the sky, _"do you really want to return to that ludicrous world?"_

He looked up at the sky and shouted back in defiance. "Yes, yes I do! I want to see Subaru again!"

_"My dear Tsukasa, you don't need her. You only need me. We shall live in peace here forever"_

"No!" he shouted, "no! I do not want to be with you!"

The voice adopted an evil, menacing tone. _"Oh, but you will, my dear little Tsukasa, you will."_

The purple vines tying up the sleeping girl sprouted also from the ground beneath his feet and held him in place.

_"Look, my dear Tsukasa, how easily we solve that small problem of yours"_

He saw, in front of him, a blue-haired girl in a wheelchair, sitting in front of a computer. He wanted to reach out to her, to touch her, but the vines impeded any movement. The air filled with a sense of evil glee, as if the voice in the air was grinning at him, and a barbell-shaped golden creature appeared behind the girl. Suddenly a sense of dread filled him and he screamed and struggled to try to get to Subaru, to warn her, but to no avail. To his horror, he felt the vines pulling his arm up in the gesture that would command the creature to attack, and he was powerless to resist. A tentacle shot out of the creature and right through the blue-haired girl's head. It seemed to live no visible wound, but the screen of her computer blacked out, and she fell forward, her head crashing into the keyboard.

"No!" he yelled in desperation, again and again, but when the voice in the sky only cackled gleefully his screams soon turned into sobs, and then fell silent.


	4. Thought

[AN: Sorry, sorry. Short chapter again. I promise this story will get somewhere in the next few chapters… I hope]

**XVI**

Ryo Sakuma, know online as Bear, put a comforting hand on Subaru's shoulder as they silently looked at the auburn-haired girl lying in the hospital bed, connected to all sorts of machinery. To his surprise, Subaru hadn't shed a tear in all the time they had been looking at the motionless Tsukasa. He guessed that she had already used up all of them while crying on Tsukasa's shoulder. He sighed. If his suppositions about the girl's feelings towards Tsukasa were right, and he hoped they weren't, things were going to be very complicated.

"Don't you wonder where she is?" asked Subaru, softly, "in The World, I mean. What could she be thinking now?"

"I don't know where she is" he answered, and was going to leave it at that. Yet before he could stop himself, he continued with an incredibly accurate comment, "but she's thinking about you"

**XVII**

Tsukasa awoke with a scream. He lay on a completely white floor, beside an old and broken bed. When this place was surrounded by ever-changing scenery the bed was intact, and a small girl used to float above it, sleeping. Yet now it was just an infinite blank emptiness around a bed that had seen better days. Tsukasa closed his eyes, letting the terror of the nightmare slowly fade away in the white light. He felt beads of sweat on his forehead. It had been so vivid, so real, he had been sure something had happened, or was going to happen, to Subaru. Yet it could not be. Morgana was no more; he was free from that malevolent voice in the sky. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up, then he opened his eyes even wider in surprise. Right in front of his face floated the familiar cat-like figure of Maha, the creature that had once worked for Morgana, but in the end sacrificed itself to save him.

"…Maha?" he asked incredulously. The small being nodded and seemed to smile. Then it looked concerned.

_I'm really sorry about what's happening now, _it said, the words appearing directly inside his mind, _I can do nothing to stop it._

Tsukasa was still thinking what to ask when it looked back sharply and slowly faded from existence.

**XVIII**

Subaru went down an empty street, deep in thought. She was thinking about Tsukasa: about a way to help her, about when and if she would see her again but, most of all, about her own feelings for the girl now prostrate on a hospital bed. Only in her absence was Subaru beginning to realize what Tsukasa really meant to her. Her own heart surprised her and, in a way, scared her. She had always realized that she was closer to Tsukasa than anyone else, and that their relationship extended beyond normal friendship sometimes, yet now she cried almost every night, regretting not having time to do things, to say things, that she'd never thought she'd do or say to a girl. Bear knew, or suspected, at least. That had been made clear with his comment at the hospital. She just hoped it wasn't too obvious, she still had to work out how to deal with herself, much less other people.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't see the young teenager until he was just a few meters away from her. She immediately stopped, surprised. The youngster looked identical to the screenshot Mimiru had sent her of the strange Wavemaster called Edo. The robes had been replaced by white trousers, shirt and what seemed to be a lab coat and there was no staff to be seen, but the face was an exact duplicate. When he turned around to look at her and she saw the three red symbols marking his cheek, she discarded the notion that it could be a coincidence.

"E… Edo?" she asked him slowly. He stopped and looked down at her. He seemed surprised, almost scared.

"I… I don't know you" he said quickly. Subaru heard a sort of low-pitched buzzing and felt what she could only describe as static in her mind. She blinked and the strange youth was gone, nowhere to be seen.

**XIX**

"So what do you think, old man?"

Bear looked down at Mimiru with a sigh. The girl had the uncanny ability to interrupt his train of thought in the most unfortunate moments.

"Think about what?" he asked her back.

"About Tsukasa, and Edo and… everything"

Bear shook his head slowly. "I don't know"

Mimiru looked down. "Me neither"

For a long moment there was silence, and then Mimiru asked "How's Tsukasa… in the real world?"

The older man shook his head sadly. "Not well. He's not expected to live much longer"

Again, for a while, silence, which Mimiru once again interrupted. "Poor Subaru"

Bear nodded silently.

Mimiru sighed and looked up at the older man. "I'm going to log out…"

Bear nodded, again. Golden rings soon swept the image of the young Heavy Blade away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

**XX**

Maha looked at Edo, a concerned expression on its cat face.

_They're after you, __Edo__,_ it said, _you should take more care to hide._

The young Wavemaster shook his head. "That would be taking away my freedom as much as if they caught me, so what's the point?"

_The point is they won't have you have you trapped _there_ again._

Edo stood up and looked down at the cat in the pointy hat. "They can't catch me, anyway, they can't even se me if I don't want them too"

Maha floated up to eye level  and frowned at him. _You aren't invincible, __Edo__._

Edo made a waving away gesture, as if it wasn't important, and started to walk off. Maha flew in front of him again, it's hair bristling in annoyance.

_Listen to me!_

Edo looked at the cat-like creature and frowned. "You are starting to get very annoying. I don't think I want to see you again"

With those words Edo faded away from the field, leaving only an annoyed Maha glaring at the space he had occupied for a few moments before it faded away, too.


	5. Danger

[AN: Yes, I know, XXI and XXV are very short. The other scenes are closer to normal size, though. With this release, we start to pave the way towards the conclusion of .hackOBLIVION and towards its sequel: .hackREBIRTH, with only five to ten more scenes until the transition is made]

**XXI**

A blonde girl slowly removes the headset from in front of her eyes with a sigh, looking concerned. He was so reckless, he thought himself invincible. Any warning only seemed to tempt him to challenge them more. She shook her head sadly.

_Oh, __Edo__, _she thought, _I so hope nothing happens to you._

**XXII**

Mimiru cautiously surveyed her surroundings, sword in hand. There seemed to be nobody else in the forest of mushrooms, but with who she was dealing with you could never know. She heard a noise behind her and she quickly spun around to face where the sound had come from, but nothing was there. That's when, in a flash, a green-haired Twin Blade fell from the sky behind her and before Mimiru could react she had a sharp edge pressed to her throat while a playful voice taunted her.

"Guess who?"

"Sora" she answered, spitting the name.

"Oh, don't take that tone with me, Mimiru, we're old friends, aren't we?" he said playfully. Mimiru couldn't see his face but she was sure he was smirking.

Sora slowly removed the blade from her throat and she spun around to face him. Indeed, he was smirking.

"Can't you do a _normal_ entrance for once?" she asked, irritated.

Sora shook his head and made a waving away motion with his hand. "Nah, it's not my style"

Mimiru sighed. She wanted to strangle the arrogant pig _so_ much, but she had to stick what she had come for.

"I'm not here for pointless chatting" she said, "I need to talk to Helba"

"Helba, eh? I had heard rumors, but it seems it is true that our little Tsukasa is back to his old self," he said, with that smirk that made Mimiru wish she could take her sword to his head outside the game. "It's going to be difficult; I hear Helba is in jail for hacking into CC Corp and The World"

Mimiru clenched her fists and swore. There went another of the few possibilities of helping Tsukasa. She sighed and turned to walk away.

"Oh no you don't" Sora said behind her, "this has been very boring"

Mimiru looked back in puzzlement just to see the famous Player Killer extend his blades with a smirk.

"You better put up a fight worth my time" he said, and leapt. The clash of metal against metal rang throughout the mushroom forest.

**XXIII**

Subaru looked round at the Wavemaster sitting beside her. Mimiru had been right, he _was_ strangely reminiscent of Tsukasa, yet quite different. He was bolder, more confident, maybe even too confident, but, beyond that, she noticed he was lost, and alone. The strange duplicity was made obvious when the conversation turned towards the real world.

"Everyone says Tokyo is the _real_ world," he was saying, "and that this one is only a bunch of data on some computers, and it _is_ true that the world I enter and exit is this one, that Tokyo seems to be the default…" there he trailed off and was silent.

"…but?" Subaru urged him to continue.

He sighed and leaned back onto the cliff face behind them, looking up at the clear sky.

"You say you don't feel this world, and do feel the other. Yet I feel _this_ one much clearer than Tokyo, out there everything seems grey and muted."

Subaru looked at the strange character, wondering exactly who he was and what was happening to him. She had done some research, and the symbols on his cheek seemed to be the Ancient Greek letters Epsilon, Delta and Omega. She didn't know what they meant, though. She had mentioned this to him, but he had been as surprised as anyone else to learn that he had the letters on his face.

"That is… strange" she said, "and you say you don't need a computer terminal to enter The World?"

He nodded. "I've never used a computer terminal. I don't think I'd know how. Yet I can enter this world whenever I want"

She thought for a long moment and then decided to talk about what she had wanted to all along. "You were in Tokyo earlier today, weren't you?"

He looked sharply towards her. He looked surprised, almost scared, and she wondered why. "How do you know that?"

"You met a blue-haired girl in a wheelchair while you were there," she answered, "that was me"

The panicked expression slowly faded and he nodded.

"I wanted to know…" she asked, "how did you just disappear then?"

He shrugged and said, as if it was obvious: "People don't see me if I don't want them to"

After that, there was silence for a long time, while they both thought about what to say. Subaru wasn't very good at idle conversation, and Edo didn't seem to be either. Then, Edo turned towards her and said, slowly:

"You know…" he seemed to doubt, and paused.

She turned to look at him and smiled reassuringly. "Yes?"

"You… were beautiful in the real world, too"

**XXIV**

Many men and women in perfect suits were sitting around a grey table in a white room. No hint of emotion was present anywhere. All of them were dressed identically, with no personal touches to their appearance. All the men wore the same haircut, as did all the women. There were no hints of rank distinction between them. It seemed a reunion between them would be pointless, as they all seemed to think the same. Yet here they were.

"We have successfully instigated the formation of a new organization under the command of the character named Silver Knight," said one of them, addressing nobody in particular.

All the rest nodded their acknowledgement, and the person continued: "We have sent him screenshots of subject epsilon-delta-omega's virtual form and have commanded him to bind the character and then contact us."

"They will not be able to do that, subject epsilon-delta-omega's control over the data makes him near invincible to any player character," another person added.

The first speaker nodded, but said: "The mass amount of unusual player deaths will allow us to pinpoint the subject's location. That is all we require"

The rest of them nodded, it was a good plan.

**XXV**

The blonde woman smiled at the man in the perfect suit, silently mocking him. He looked at her in anger.

"Michiko, we will get you one day," he said, menacingly.

She just smiled at him and said. "You heard the judge, Takashi; I'm as innocent as a newborn child"

"Not for long… Helba"


	6. Oblivion

**XXVI**

"You… were beautiful in the real world, too"

Subaru turned, eyes wide in surprise, towards Edo, and stuttered, "E-Edo… I…"

Yet she was interrupted by the sudden sound of many people running. She looked up and saw some twenty characters in identical and very familiar armor running towards them, Silver Knight at their lead. They quickly surrounded them. They were trapped between the swords of the Knights and the cliff face.

"Lady Subaru," shouted Silver Knight, "please distance yourself from the hacker named Edo!"

Subaru looked between a surprised Edo and a determined Silver Knight, finally saying to the last, "What is the meaning of this, Silver Knight?"

"CC Corp's orders, Lady Subaru, now please distance yourself from the hacker while we proceed to bind him," he repeated.

Before Subaru could say anything else Edo was on his feet, glaring between her and the Knights.

"So, _Lady_ Subaru," he said bitterly, "you managed to distract me for long enough so your troops could get into position. I praise your ability for deceit, _Lady_, I suspected nothing; but you were completely wrong if you thought you were going to be able to defeat me."

"No, Edo! It's not that! I didn't…" Subaru's frantic attempt to explain was drowned out by Silver Knight's order to attack and by the shouts of the other Knights, leaping towards them, swords first. She looked up at Edo, and saw he was surrounded by a sort of shimmering aura, like the horizon on a very hot day. The aura expanded to swallow them all, and for a brief moment, all was silent, except for a strange buzz inside her mind, then everything went dark.

**XXVII**

Tsukasa sat in the blank space that had once been the realm where Aura slept. He did not know how long he had been here, how many days had passed outside. He sometimes thought he lapsed in and out of consciousness, but there was nothing definite to mark the passing of time inside this unchanging place. Therefore, he simply sat, thinking. He needed to work out where Aura was, and what she had meant by "finding himself". Yet he always seemed to end up thinking about other things. How awful his life had been outside The World; how he had never actually held Subaru in his arms except in this mirage of a reality and probably never would; and, mostly, about how he was going to die, to fade into oblivion, with so many things he had not done, _should_ have done, when he had the chance. He remembered crying for what seemed like hours, here, all alone. It was curious, he thought, how Subaru had cried on his shoulder a few times, yet he had only shed tears this once since they had met. Subaru always seemed much more mature, much stronger. She was, he supposed; it was simply that he had few tears left after the hell he sometimes called life. Who cared, anyway?

_She cares,_ said a somehow surviving voice of sanity in his mind. It brought back memories of a friendly, beautiful face, and a promise made, a promise…

His thoughts were interrupted by an almost heard scream from far away. With it came an unnerving chill, as if a small part of him had suddenly died. In horror he realized who had screamed and recalled the images he had seen in his dream.

"Subaru!" he shouted, as if willing his voice to have the power to stop what was already happening, maybe already happened. He almost felt how her head would fall like a dead weight onto the keyboard of her computer. The crash would break her headset and shut down her computer, but it would not matter, because it was too late… too late.

He shouted her name again as he got up and disappeared from the blank domain, leaving it exactly the same as it was when he entered.

**XXVIII**

Subaru woke up and noticed she was lying face down in some sort of springy, spiky material. Her whole body ached, like when she had a very bad cold, and her head was filled with searing, white-hot pain that made it difficult to think. It slowly died down, though, and it was replaced by questions. Where was she? What had Edo done to her inside the game that now hurt her so much? Why did she have the odd feeling that something was fundamentally _wrong_? She carefully rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. She was instantly greeted by a cheerful shining blue sky dotted with small white clouds. In a sort of daze her hand closed around some of the material she was lying on and pulled it to her face. The material presented some resistance to being dislodged, but soon she was holding a handful of the green blades in front of her eyes. _Grass._ She was lying on grass under a blue sky… and it all seemed strangely familiar. Then she felt what was nagging at the back of her mind since she had woken up. The spiky feeling of grass against her skin extended around all her body, including her legs. She could feel her legs, and that was _impossible_. She tried to move them and, to her growing surprise, they seemed to respond perfectly. Filled with puzzlement but, at the same time, exhilaration, she slowly stood up. She was slightly unsteady, as she didn't readily remember all the movements she had to do, but she managed to walk a few steps forward. This was absolutely impossible, the only place she could walk was…

…a familiar axe lay on the grass, beside her, as if it was a welcome sign…

…The World. She slowly looked around and, indeed, she recognized this place as part of Dun Loireag. Still in a surprised daze, almost believing it was all a dream, she bent down and picked up her weapon. She slowly stroked it's edge with her thumb, and instantly a sharp pain shot through her finger. She stood there looking, eyes wide, at the drop of blood that slowly grew bigger until it fell to the ground, giving a splash of crimson to a blade of grass.

"Subaru!" a familiar voice cried out from behind her. She turned around to see Tsukasa running towards her, panting. He tripped over and nearly fell down, but managed not to, and continued sprinting towards her. He stopped in front of her and just stood there panting for a moment before looking up at her and saying, "Subaru! You're all right!" he seemed strangely surprised at the fact. He was smiling at her as if he was glad she was there, as if he wasn't expecting her to be 'all right'. She was thinking of how to start to explain what seemed to have happened to her when he leaned forward and hugged her.

She felt his warmth of his skin against hers, the soft caress of his breath against her. For the first time she noticed he smelled slightly of grass and trees and fresh countryside, like one who has been traveling the wild a lot. All this provoked strange and chaotic emotions to explode in her mind, and added to her confusion. Scared, not of him but of the feelings he produced, she pushed him away and took a few steps back until her back was pressed against the cliff face. Tsukasa looked at her in confusion and puzzlement. He looked hurt by her rejection and took a step backwards, away from her. She wanted to talk to him, to explain, but she couldn't get her thoughts ordered enough to speak, so she just stood there clutching her axe as if it was the last thing real in the world.

She saw Tsukasa's eyes dart towards the cut on her thumb, and then towards the small streak of scarlet on her axe. Realization seemed to dawn on him from nowhere in particular and he took a timid step forward, towards her.

"You can… feel?" he asked. The only response she gave was a very small and afraid nod.

He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly at the touch, but then relaxed, and found it was indeed calming.

"Who did this to you?" he inquired. She waited a few moments until she was sure she could speak, and answered.

"E… Edo" Tsukasa lifted his eyebrows curiously at her answer.

"That strange Wavemaster? Why? And where is he?"

She shook her head and said softly, "I don't know"

"Have you tried to… you know… log out?"

She shook her head again, and, without saying anything else, she raised her axe slightly off the ground, activating the log out command. Absolutely nothing happened, as if the command had never existed, never worked at all. With that, any delusion that everything could possibly be a dream or something else was wiped away, leaving only the crude and cruel reality. She felt small, weak, defenseless, and trapped. She shivered, and felt tears rising to her eyes, but Tsukasa wrapped his arms around her before they could fall, and his warmth kept even the memory of tears away. She hugged him back and they stood there for a long time, basking in each other's touch. Yet not even Tsukasa's warmth could completely banish fear and doubt from her mind.

"What will happen to me now?" she asked, her voice trembling, "what will happen to us?"

He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. "It will be easier now," he answered, "if Edo trapped you here, he will surely know how to release you… maybe release me, too"

The words were sincere, and she felt slightly better. Yet the feeling of being perpetually trapped in a dream or nightmare persisted, like an icy stroke to her mind that only exceptional warmth could send away permanently. As she looked into his eyes she knew there was only one way she would get that warmth, one simple way they both knew, both wanted, and both knew should not happen. They made a decision.

**XXIX**

Edo stood atop the cliff and looked down at the two characters kissing. He contemplated how easy it would be to delete the ivory-haired Wavemaster from the World, maybe even affecting him in the real world. That way Subaru would be his, instead of with that strange character with unusual data. He wanted her, in The World and in the other, in Tokyo. She rightfully belonged with him, of course, it had been obvious in the way she looked at him, and that… Tsukasa… person was tricking her, stealing her. He would show him. Unusual data or not, it was still data, and could still be easily deleted completely from the net. He looked at the character named Tsukasa and a watery, shimmering aura slowly appeared around him. He smirked, and concentrated.

**XXX**

The busy, perfect, working man calmly finished his message as a young blonde woman, who looked very strange in the perfect suit, glowered at him in bristling anger. He slowly turned towards her and calmly awaited what she was going to say.

"You can't delete him just like that! That's… that's _murder!_" she shouted.

The man did not flinch or lose any bit of his calmness. He knew very well this was going to happen, and was expecting it, as always. He liked things turning out as planned.

"We all know you are very sentimental" he said, "and we respect your opinion. Yet you are very impractical. The measures taken to neutralize subject epsilon-delta-omega are simply the ones necessary…"

He hadn't finished the sentence when the girl shouted at him again, "you… you're _evil_, Takashi!"

The man looked at her for exactly the time necessary for her to calm down enough to listen, and said calmly, "you need to calm down, Maha"

The girl glared at him one last time before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. The sound echoed through two or three floors of the building. Everything was going exactly as planned.

TO BE CONTINUED

[AN: Please pardon my muse. The poor thing hiccupped and changed my plot completely, so the promised "conclusion" to OBLIVION turned into more of a cliffhanger. I'm sorry, and I promise most of the questions made in OBLIVION will be answered in its sequel, REBIRTH.]


End file.
